SARNIA, Ont. — In yet another round of protests, Canada Customs officers walked away from their post at the Sarnia, Ont.-Port Huron border because the Canadian government continues to deny them firearms.

Truckers and car drivers trying to enter Canada were delayed for several hours yesterday at the Blue Water Bridge when officers resumed their ongoing dispute with the feds over the right to carry guns on the job.

Most of the officers returned to work at 5 p.m.

The walkout coincided with the release of a study conducted on behalf of the officers’ Customs Excise Union, which found that front-line customs workers — like police officers — need to carry weapons because of increasing dangerous situations and the risk of encountering armed terrorists at the border.

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The study, conducted by private Ottawa-based security company Northgate Group, continues by stating that the Canada-U.S. border is porous and suggests armed mobile patrols to secure it.

“From assaults, to intimidation to being take hostage, these officers are faced with a daily risk to their lives … exacerbated by the unpredictability of human behaviour,” the study states.

The union says it’s frustrated with the government’s response on the issue, especially since the feds’ own reports — including a Canadian Senate report released last summer — also recommended border agents carry weapons.

In November, customs officers created traffic chaos at several border crossings in Southern Ontario when they staged a series of similar strikes over the gun issue.

“Our members exercised this right in part because they don’t trust the armed and dangerous lookout system, which is critically flawed in that it repeatedly fails to identify armed and dangerous felons as such,” Ron Moran, national president of the Customs Excise Union, said at the time.

Days before, Moran created a firestorm when, in testified before the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, he accused CBSA management of ignoring objections from front-line customs officers in introducing a “widespread practice of admitting individuals into Canada even after they are caught trying to smuggle guns or drugs.”

The Ontario Trucking Association has been urging the government to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

“Much of what has been accomplished since Sept. 11 to keep the border functioning will be undone if we allow these types of situations to continue. Your officials must take immediate action to put in place whatever plans are required to end the current job action and to prevent another such work stoppage at the border,” OTA President David Bradley wrote in a letter to Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Anne McLellan last fall.

Bradley is recommending carriers and owner-ops charge their customers for delays.